Are we not already living in the Matrix that has been thought up by the Government?
The real-life ‘Inception’ helmet that can fool people into thinking fake scenes are real
Researchers have developed an Inception-style helmet which makes the human mind unable to tell what is real and what is a fake.
The device fools the wearer into thinking that TV scenes they are being shown are live when in fact they were recorded.
Even after the mechanism of the experiment was explained, some test subjects were not able to distinguish between the two.
The scientists behind the project said that it was effectively the same process as that which takes place in Inception, the high concept thriller from 2010.
In the film Leonardo Di Caprio plays an industrial spy who is hired to plant an idea in the mind of a businessman by one of his rivals.
The central conceit – which is similar to that in the Matrix series – is that in a powerful dream state we are unable to tell what is real and what isn’t.
In Inception the main characters are dreaming within their dreams, giving more complexity to the labyrinthine plot.
The test involved a system known as Substitutional Reality (SR) which has been developed at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute’s Laboratory for Adaptive Intelligence in Japan.
Lead researcher Keisuke Suzuki told The Guardian it could be a ‘powerful tool to investigate how our conscious experiences are constituted in daily natural scenes’.
He said: ‘In a dream, we naturally accept what is happening and hardly doubt its reality, however unrealistic it may seem on reflection.
‘Our motivation is to explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying our strong conviction in reality.
‘How can people trust what they perceive? Answering these questions requires an experimental platform which can present scenes that participants believe are completely real, but where we are still able to manipulate the contents.’
In the simple but effective experiment, test subjects were filmed entering a room and being told what to do by the researchers.
They were then sat in a chair and the helmet put on their heads, inside which was a monitor which showed them a series of scenes, some of which were live and some of which were recorded.
Phone implants…is that the next step in communication?
The ‘power fabric’ that could charge your phone whenever you hold it (and will even give you a power boost when you sit on it)
Next time your phone runs out of battery, just grab it with your hand.
Researchers have developed a way to turn body heat into electricity meaning your mobile will never go dead again.
Power Felt can keep your phone going for up to 20 per cent longer just through the power of touch.
Mobile users can even sit on their phones to make the ‘connection’ – passing electricity through their own body to the device.
The technology has been created by Professor David Carroll of Wakeforest University’s Centre for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials in the US.
He said that it could be the first wave of inexpensive ways to produce electricity that were far more affordable than current renewables such as solar, which was being held back by the high cost.
read more
The rise of the cyborgs: Scientists reveal new method to 'grow' electronic sensors inside human tissue
Cyborgs melding human and robotic technology together have finally come a step closer to reality.
Researchers at MIT in Boston have revealed a new technique that can place sensors inside human tissue.
To control the three-dimensional shape of engineered tissue, researchers grow cells on tiny, sponge-like scaffolds.
These devices can be implanted into patients or used in the lab to study tissue responses to potential drugs.
A team of researchers from MIT, Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital has now added a new element to tissue scaffolds: electronic sensors.
These sensors, made of silicon nanowires, could be used to monitor electrical activity in the tissue surrounding the scaffold, control drug release or screen drug candidates for their effects on the beating of heart tissue.
‘We are very excited about this study,’ Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT and a senior author of the paper said.
‘It brings us one step closer to someday creating a tissue-engineered heart, and it shows how novel nanomaterials can play a role in this field.’
The researchers built their new scaffold out of epoxy, a nontoxic material that can take on a porous, 3-D structure.
Silicon nanowires embedded in the scaffold carry electrical signals to and from cells grown within the structure.
‘The scaffold is not just a mechanical support for cells, it contains multiple sensors.
‘We seed cells into the scaffold and eventually it becomes a 3-D engineered tissue,’ Tian says.
[Top]